A Little Fun with Part 2

Hello! Today I’d like to incorporate a little fun and fiction into this Abundant Life series.

This story is called,

Remember, Only You Can Prevent Narcissism

Judy was a narcissist. She didn’t deny the fact. (Most of them don’t.)

She told her kids that Old McDonald “had a cow” because there was a tax hike on his farm and he had to sell all of the animals to feed his kids.

She told her husband that she only went shopping for shoes every weekend because she had worn out the ones from the week before with all she did for him.

She determined that if Mondays were really a day the Lord hath made, she should celebrate them with another day of rest.

She added carrot cake to the vegetable portions on her food pyramid and always took two helpings.

She did terrible things at church too. One time when the line at the ladies room was really long, she yelled, “Is that Jesus over there?” When she came out refreshed, she asked the frowning women behind her, “What happened?”

She decided that since she was such a good cook, she didn’t have to say a prayer for her meals.

One day an old woman named Francine, from Church stopped by for a visit. During their coffee she asked Judy, what she wanted most in life. Judy was flattered. One of her favorite things in life was to be asked her opinion and Francine must have loved hearing her talk. So Judy told Francine about wanting to travel. She wanted to own an important business that would span the globe. She talked of eating the purest chocolate every day of the month and having fashion gurus come to her for advice.

Finally, Francine smiled and patted her leg. “Judy. You have all that. Now, what do you really want most in life?”

Judy was astonished. “I don’t have any of that. What do you mean?”

Francine smiled. “You travel fifteen miles to our little church every Sunday. That’s a lot further than I can go in a whole week. You own a business too.”

“I do?”

“The business of raising American citizens with a conscience and a heart of grattitude to God. How are you doing on your business? The affects of that could span the globe. Do you see the profits or just losses? You have the purest chocolate too.”

Judy was stunned. “I do?”

“Yes. When you make chocolate chip cookies with your kids, they come sprinkled with priceless memories that you can never replace. Now, isn’t your oldest girl thirteen?” Francine asked as she struggled to rise.

“Yes, she just turned.” Judy answered.

“There’s your fashion guru. She’s a beautiful young lady with a modest approach to today’s latest looks.” Francine tottered to the door where her husband smiled and stood. Judy watched her as she turned back and said. “Now, what do you really want? Only he that is faithful in little can be faithful in much. You never get your time back, so be faithful and thankful for every priceless minute.”

******

Yesterday, we talked about the three things in 2 Timothy 3:16 that the Word of God is profitable for. Doctrine/right believing, reproof/rebuking where we have wrong believing, and correction. The story above is a great example of correction. There are examples all over the Word as well. Like when David married Bathsheba. Nathan the prophet had to come in with a story like the one above and “correct” David where he was off. It was loving, helpful, and immediately effective. This is part of the function of the God-breathed scripture. The next verse goes even further.

“All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

That the man (a human being, whether male or female) of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17

God poured out this scripture to give us the most powerful tool of all time. It is the one tool in the world that will equip the heart of an individual. That word “perfect” is the Greek word artios. This is a Greek word that is only used one time in the Bible. If you study the language in the literature of the day, you’ll find it used when a ship is being loaded for a long voyage. That ship could have weeks, maybe months at sea. Think of how much it would need to keep its crew healthy, fed and strong throughout the voyage! It is a wonderful analogy for what God gave us in the scriptures.

Also, most people see the word throughly and they read it as thoroughly. It is not thoroughly. I can wash my hands thoroughly clean, but I cannot wash them throughly, which means inside and out.

Literally, God gave the God-breathed scriptures for a man or woman to be completely equipped, fully from the inside out furnished unto all good works, or business, employment or enterprises we put our hand to.